Ansel Elgort, Dave Franco and Miles Teller Among the Many Auditioning For ‘Han Solo’ Movie

With Star Wars: The Force Awakens just about two weeks ago, it may seem strange to now look ahead to a Star Wars film that isn’t coming out until May, 2018, but when that film is Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s Han Solo spinoff, you’ll forgive us for jumping out ahead. Though filming on the Han Solo project isn’t expected to begin for over a year, Lord and Miller have already started auditioning a slew of young Hollywood actors for the project and some of the names may surprise you.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, over 2,500 actors (!!) have either “met on the project or put themselves on tape” to play a young-ish Solo. Some of those names include Ansel Elgort, Dave Franco (who worked with Lord and Miller on the Jump Street movies), Miles Teller, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Logan Lerman, Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series), Nick Robinson (Jurassic World), Carl from The Walking Dead (Chandler Riggs) and Mr. Robot star Rami Malek. Lord and Miller are looking for actors who can handle both the comedy and the action required, and have even auditioned a few young comedians for the part.

There has been some debate as to how old (or how young) the Solo role would be, but this round of contenders, which range in age from 16-34, doesn’t help much. THR claims the “sweet spot” is in the mid-20s, which may put Franco, Teller and Malek at a disadvantage.

As with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it’s probably not wise to read too much into these names now. If you’ll remember everyone from Benedict Cumberbatch to Michael B. Jordan and Saoirse Ronan had met with J.J. Abrams about parts in the film. (Imagine an interesting alternate universe where we have Saoirse Ronan as Rey and Michael B. Jordan as Finn…)

The untitled Han Solo film, which is currently going under the code name “Red Cup” (Get it? Solo? Solo red cups?..), is set for release on May 25, 2018.